Tear tab machine



Oct. 25, 1960 A. CLEMENTE TEAR TAB mcnms:

5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Oct. 11, 1950 IN V EN TOR. N asasr/lva CZL'MEWTE Oct. 25, 1960 A. CLEMENTE TEAR TAB MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Oct. 11, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet I5 Original Filed Oct. 11, 1950 Oct. 25, 1960 A. CLEMENTE TEAR TAB MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed Oct. 11, 1950 a E y N M w MNN w M R NQN \NN W. M m c r fl S 0 6 A V. B $3 an fi m5 m8 \w WW on \H w. N 0 MNN L a WEN N3 #4 $N Q81 x i A 3 Q N QNN W MWN Oct. 25, 1960 A. CLEMENTE TEAR TAB MACHINE 5 w 3% %N h J. w NM e e a NN wN 5 I 3 U @w T. HH

Ougmal Flled Oct 11 1950 INVENTOR. 1460577/l/0 CLEMENT;

ATTO/PNf) P 'atemed Oct. 25, 1960 TEAR TAB MACHINE Agostino "Clemente, Wyncotte, Pa., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Consolidated Cigar Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Original application Oct. 11, 19 50, Ser. No. 189,518,

now Patent No. 2,757,584, dated Aug. 7, 1956. Divided and this application Dec. 9, 1955, Ser. No. 552,135

4 Claims. (Cl. 226-154) This invention relates to improvements in mechanisms for applying a succession of tear tabs to a web of wrapping material and slitting the edge of said web on each side of the tear tabs, and more particularly to mechanism for controlling the feed of a strip of material from which the tabs are formed, the present application being a division of my co-pending application, Ser. No. 189,518, filed on October 11, 1950, now Patent No. 2,7 57,584, issued August 7, 1956.

One of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide a more compact and efiicient mechanism for performing the operations of aflixing tear tabs to a web of wrapping material for wrapping cigars, cigarettes, candy, bread, and other products than such mechanisms heretofore developed.

A still further-object of this invention is to provide a mechanism for the purpose mentioned having improved means for advancing the tear tab strip across the web of wrapping material and regulating the lengths of the tabs.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a tear tab mechanism embodying the present invention, but showing the yoke which carries the upper shearing blades and the spring urged pressure member removed, and also with the front and middle cover plate removed from the base.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow.

Fig. 3 is a partially sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 and showing the cover plate removed.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but with the front and middle cover plates and other parts in assembled position.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the rear cover plate.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing cam elements for lifting the top feed roller shaft taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a reel for the tear tab strip.

Fig. 9 is a rear elevation of the reel shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a plan view of a section of the Web of Wrapping material and a tear tab applied thereto.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken on the line 11-11 of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is aside view of a combined quadrant and disc for limiting the advance of the tear tab strip.

Fig. 13 is ,a sectional view of the quadrant shown in Fig. 12-, as installed in combination with the means for advancing the tear tab strip, taken on the line 13-13 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 14 is a sectional view taken on the line 14-14 of Fig. 4, but showing the rear cover plate in position on the base of the mechanism.

Fig. 15 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 15-15 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, in which like numerals designate like parts in the several views, the improved mechanism for applying tear tabs to a web of wrapping material includes a base 10 adapted to be attached to a machine for wrapping cigars or other articles with sheet material fed through the machine on suitable rollers, by means of a bracket 12 carried by the tear tab mechanism. The wrapping machine (not shown) may be of any conventional type in which articles are automatically wrapped. Such machines are provided with means for advancing a web of wrapping material continuously or intermittently at a timed rate of travel, and it is therefore essential that the rate of advance across said web of a strip of material from which tear tabs are severed be coordianted with that of the web of wrapping material.

The base 10 is preferably of rectangular form, having walls 14 and being open at its top and bottom. The plates 16 and 18 are secured to the top of the base to shield the mechanism mounted inside the base and to form a supporting surface 20 for the web of wrapping material 22, which is arranged to move transversely across said surface. Guide plates 24 and 25 for the tear tab strip 28 are secured to base 10 between the opposed ends of plates 16 and 18. Plate 18 is provided at its front end with a pair of spaced, narrow slots 30 (Fig. 6), a wider slot 32 extending longitudinally of said plate, and a circular opening 3.4 in its central portion. Plate 18 has elevated portions 36 at its front end outwardly from slots 30 for lifting the front edge 38. of web 22, to permit passage of the end of the, tear tab strip 28 back of the web when the tear tab strip is advanced, as more clearly shown in Fig. 3.

A shaft 40, transversely journaled in the walls 14 below plate 18, has rigidly mounted thereon a gear wheel 42 and a rocker arm 44. Meshing with one side of gear wheel 42 is a vertical rack member 46 which is slidably mounted in .a guide sleeve 43- depending from a rear plate St). The plateEtl. is secured to the top of base 10 and provides a continuation rearwardly of the surface 21 To the outer end of rack .46 is rigidly secured one end of a yoke 52 having depending portions 54 and also depending guide legs 56 slidably mounted in vertical openings 58 in the walls 14 of base 10. In the construction described, the yoke is positively guided at both ends for reciprocal movement on base 10.

Another rack member 60 meshing with the opposite side of gear wheel 42 is guided for slidable movement in a guide member 62' secured within-the walls of base it). A support member 64 is rigidly connected to rack member 66 through an integral arm 66 on support member 64 and a corresponding arm 68 on rack member 60, together with a screw 70 slidable in slot 72 of arm 66 by means of which support member 64 is adjustable longitudinally of base 10. A pressure member 74 is slidably mounted on yoke 52 in opposed alignment with support member 64. A spring 76 urges said pressure member toward the base 10 and the support member 64. Pressure member 74 is adjustable toward and from base 10 by means of nuts 73 on threaded stem 80 projecting through yoke 52. A spline 82in a slot 84 of stem 80 engages a corresponding slot '35 (Fig. 15) in yoke 52 to hold the pressure member '74 against rotation.

Rocker arm 44 is connected throughli k member 86 with one end of a lever 88 which is pivotally mounted near its front end on a transverse shaft 90 and has a roller 92' on its front end in contact :with .a cam '94 mounted on another shaft 96. A, spring 98 attached to the rear end of lever 88 and to a support 100 on base '10 urges roller 92 into contact with cam 94. A sprocket wheel 102 on shaft 96 is driven by a chain 104 from a suitable motive source. An electrical heating element 106 is rigidly connected through bracket 108 with support member 64 and is supplied with current through wires 110 and 112 from any suitable power source. The support and pressure member 64 and 74 are normally spaced apart, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, to receive the web of wrapping material 22 and the tear tab strip 28 therebetween preparatory to the operations of clamping or pressing the end of the tear tab strip to the web, slitting the edges of the web on each side of the tear tab strip and severing a tear tab from the strip 28, which may be provided with a fusible coating for heat sealing, or with adhesion material for sealing under pressure only. In either case, the parts just described will be substantially the same.

For the operation of slitting the front edge of the web 22, a pair of identical shear blades 114 are hinged at one end to supports 116 secured by screws 118 to brackets 120 carried by the walls 14- of base 10. Slots 122 are formed in supports 116 at one end and the screws 118 project through these slots to permit adjustment of the rear ends of the blades 114 toward each other. A slot 124 is provided in the free end of each shear blade 114 and a screw 126 projects through this slot into support 116 to afford means of angular adjustment of the blade 114. A spring 128 is mounted on each screw between the blade 114 and support 116, this spring being under sufficient compression to urge the blade outwardly on its hinge, thereby forcing the blades at an angle to each other convergent rearwardly. As shown more clearly in Fig. 14, the upper edge of each blade 114 lies just below plate 18, substantially in registry with one of the slots 30, but is urged outwardly by spring 128, so that the blade is on a slight bias with the slot. Opposed blades 130, cooperative with blades 114, are rigidly secured by screws 132 to the depending portions 54 of yoke 52 with provision through slots 134 for adjusting blades 130, as more clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 4. As shown in Figs. and 14, the blades 130 are in alignment with slots 30 in plate 18, blades 114 being on a slight yieldable bias with the blades 130. The blades 114 may be angularly adjusted, either outwardly or inwardly in relation to the blades 130, by means of screws 126.

For the operation of severing tear tabs from the tear tab strip 28, a single shear blade 136 similar to either of the blades 114 is hinged at one end to a support 138, which support is mounted on a cross-bar 140 of the base transversely of the blades 114. One of the screws 142 securing support 138 to cross-bar 140 at the free end of blade 136 passes through a slot 144 which affords means of angular adjustment of the blade 136, and a spring 146 mounted between the free end of blade 136 and support 138 urges the blade 136 outwardly at an angle in relation to support 138. A blade 148 is rigidly, but adjustably, mounted transversely on yoke 52 between depending portions 54, and is provided with a slot 150 and screw 152 which afford means of adjustability of blade 148 toward the base 10.

The tear tab strip 28 is preferably wound on a reel 154- journaled upon an arm 156 mounted at the front end of base 10, and from this reel the strip is intermittently advanced across the Web 22 by means of rollers 158 and 160 and guided between plates 24 and 25. Roller 158 is mounted on a shaft 162 which is journaled in an arm 164 pivotally mounted on a shaft 166 carried by a bearing 168 on the base 10 and having a flanged idler pulley 170 on its inner end under which the tear tab strip is supported and guided thereby. A rotating and lifting handle or knob 163 is mounted on the outer end of shaft 162. Roller 158 may be covered by a resilient cylindrical coating or cylindrical casing 172 to provide additional grip on the tear tab strip, which may be made of material having a slippery surface. A spring 174- urges arm 164 toward base 10, thereby holding roller 158 in contact under pressure with lower roller 160. The roller has an annular groove 176 intermediate its ends in which a finger 178 projecting from the rear end of lower guide plate 25 is inserted to align the plate with the tear tab strip. Roller 160 is mounted on shaft 180. Intermeshing gear wheels 182 and 184 are mounted on the respective shafts 162 and to provide positive means for rotating rollers 158 and 160 simultaneously. A ratchet wheel 186 is also mounted on shaft 180. A pawl 188, pivoted on an arm 190 which is mounted on the shaft 180, is actuated through link 192, rocker arm 194 and cam 196 to rotate shaft 180 in a clock-wise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, to advance the tear tab strip 28 intermittently toward web 22. Rocker arm 194 has a spring'195 urging its forward end into contact with cam 196. The arm 194 is mounted on shaft 90 which also carries the lever 88 connected with rack members 46 and 60. Pawl 188 is of sufficient width to overlie the outer perimeter of a disc 198 which is freely mounted on the shaft 180 and carries a toothed quadrant 200. This quadrant is in mesh with a pinion 202 carried by a stub shaft 204. A portion 206 of the perimeter of disc 198 (Fig. 12) is of slightly greater diameter than the ratchet wheel 186 so that, when it is desired to limit the effective stroke of pawl 188, the disc 198 is rotated to bring such portion of the larger diameter under the pawl as necessary to limit the rotation of the ratchet wheel 186 as desired to regulate the advance of the tear tab strip 28. Stub shaft 204 projects through a sleeve 208 fixed in one wall 14 of base 10 and has a handle or knob 210 on its outer end. The outer end of sleeve 208 is tapered, split, and screwthreaded, and a nut 212 is threaded on the end to lock the shaft 204 against rotation after the disc 198 has been adjusted as desired. The details of this feature are shown in Fig. 13.

Brake means for reel 154 comprises a resilient plate 214 secured at 216 to arm 156 and an adjusting pin 218 screw-threaded through arm 156 and having a wheel 220 for rotating said pin. The inner end of pin 218 bears against plate 214, the outer end 221 of which is in frictional contact with reel 154. Any desired longitudinal tension may be placed on tear tab strip 28 by adjusting the pin 218 in relation to plate 214. Such adjustments are important in advancing the strip 28 for the reason that, if the tension is not sufficient, the strip will tend to sag and wrinkle, and if it is too great, the strip will slip between the rollers 158 and 160.

Shaft 162 extends across the base 10 through a vertical slot in a support 222 comprising a guide for said shaft (Fig. 7). A rotatable cam member 224 is mounted transversely in the support 222 and passes through the aforementioned slot below shaft 162, the shaft 162 resting in a cut out portion 226 of the cam member. A handle 228 is attached to one end of the cam member for rotating this member to lift shaft 162 and thus 'raise the roller 158 from contact with roller 160, as when inserting the end of a new reel of tear tab material.

Although it is to be understood that the web of wrapping material 22 is movable, and that the mechanism for applying tear tabs thereto must be coordinated with the movements of the web, the means for controlling the web forms no part of the present invention. It is to be understood that the web of wrapping material may be carried by any conventional type of machine for wrapping cigars and the like, to which the mechanism of the present invention is attached.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the tear tab strip 28 is advanced intermittently across .the web of wrapping material 22 by means of rollers 158, 160, ratchet wheel 186 and pawl 188, the latter being actuated by earn 196. The extent, or distance, of advance is controlled by the disc 198 and quadrant 200, by means of which the distance of advance may be adjusted according to the length of tear tab desired.

As the tear tab strip advances, the front end of the strip passes back of the front edge of web 22, which is lifted from the surface 20 by the elevated portions 36 of the plate 18, and the strip is stopped when the effective limit of the stroke of pawl 188 has been reached. Immediately thereafter, the rear end of lever 88 is forced upwardly by cam 94 and, through rocker arm 44, effects rotation of gear wheel 42 clock-wise (as viewed in Fig. 3). This causes rack 46 to move downwardly carrying with it the yoke 52, the pressure member 74, the longitudinal shear blades 130 and the transverse shear blade 148. The upper surface of support member 64 and the lower surface of pressure member 74 contact the under side of tear tab strip 28 and the top side of the web 22, respectively, when they come together, the end of support member 64 projecting through slot 32 in plate 18. At this point, by reason of the spring 76, both members 64 and 74 move upwardly a short distance, carrying with them the web 22 and the tear tab strip 28 clamped together between the two members. However, the yoke 52 continues to move downwardly, carrying with it the rigid shear blades 130 and 148. These blades press the edge of the web and the tear tab strip downwardly through adjacent slots in the surface of the base into contact with the hinged shear blades 114 and 136 and complete the operation of slitting the edge of the web, as shown at 23 (Fig. and severing a tear tab 230 from the strip 28. As hereinbefore explained, the tear tab will be sealed to the web by pressure of the members 64 and 74, irrespective of whether heat is applied through a heating element.

The narrow slots 30 in the plate 18, for admitting passage of the upper shear blades 130, and the narrow space between the support 64 and the front edge of guide plate 24 leave the maximum amount of surface for support of the web and tear tab strip, and also permit a minimum distance of travel of the web and tear tab strip toward the shear blades mounted on the base, which greatly aids in performing the shearing operations without distortion of and wrinkling of the web and tab. The solidity of the supporting arrangement insures clean slitting of the edges of the web and severing of tear tabs from the'tear tab strip.

As previously explained herein, the shear blades 114 and 136 mounted on the base 10 are hingedly mounted and urged outwardly under spring tension which may be adjusted to impose such shearing tension against the upper shear blades 130 and 148 as may be necessary for different kinds and thicknesses of material used in the web and tear tab strip.

Various modifications or changes in the construction and arrangement of parts in the mechanism shown and described in the foregoing specification may be made within the scope of the present invention, and it is therefore tobe understood that the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings is illustrative only, and not restrictive thereto.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a mechanism for applying tear tabs to a movable web of wrapping material, a pair of opposed rollers for advancing a tear tab strip across said web, the lower of said rollers being carried by a shaft journaled in the base of said mechanism, and the upper roller being carried by a shaft journaled in an arm pivotally mounted on said base, a spring urging said upper roller toward said lower roller, a guide on said base having therein a vertical slot, the shaft carrying said upper roller extending through said slot and having a handle on its outer end, a cam member journaled in said guide, said cam member passing tranversely through said slot under said shaft and providing a cam surface below said shaft, and a handle on one end of said cam member, said cam surface being adapted to lift said shaft and upper roller upon rotation of said cam member.

2. In a mechanism for applying tear tabs to a movable web of wrapping material, a supporting structure over which said web can be advanced, said supporting structure including a base, an arm pivotally mounted on said base, a pair of opposed upper and lower rollers for advancing a tear tab strip therebetween across said web, said lower roller being journaled in said base and said upper roller being journaled in said arm, said lower roller having an annular groove therein, a guide plate on said base for said tear tab strip, said guide plate having a finger extending into said groove, a spring associated with said arm urging said upper roller against said lower roller whereby to maintain contact between said rollers, means for intermittently rotating said rollers while said rollers are in contact with each other, and manually operable means mounted on said base for lifting said upper roller from contact with said lower roller.

3. In a mechanism for applying tear tabs to a movable web of wrapping material, a supporting structure over which said web can be advanced, said supporting structure including a base, an arm pivotally mounted on said base, a first shaft journaled in said base, a lower roller carried by said first shaft, a second shaft journaled in said arm, an upper roller carried by said second shaft in opposed relation to said lower roller, a spring associated with said arm urging said upper roller against said lower roller whereby to maintain contact between said rollers, said rollers being adapted when in contact with each other to cooperate to advance a tear tab strip across said web, a guide on said base having a slot therein, said second shaft extending through said slot, a cam member journaled in said slot below said second shaft, and manually operable means on said cam member for rotating said cam member, said cam member being adapted to lift said second shaft and said upper roller upon rotation thereof whereby to lift said upper roller away from contact with said lower roller.

4. In a mechanism for applying tear tabs to a movable web of wrapping material, a supporting structure over which said web can be advanced, said supporting structure including a base, an arm pivotally mounted on said base, a first shaft journaled in said base, a lower roller carried by said first shaft, a second shaft journaled in said arm, an upper roller carried by said second shaft in opposed relation to said lower roller, a spring associated with said arm urging said upper roller against said lower roller whereby to maintain contact between said rollers, said rollers being adapted when in contact with each other to cooperate to advance a tear tab strip across said web, means for intermittently rotating said rollers While said rollers are in contact with each other to thereby intermittently advance said tear tab strip, a guide on said base having a slot therein, said second shaft extending through said slot, a cam member journaled in said slot below said second shaft, and manually operable means on said cam member for rotating said cam member, said cam member being adapted to lift said second shaft and said upper roller upon rotation thereof whereby to lift said upper roller away from contact with said lower roller.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,574,481 Hensley Feb. 23, 1926 2,001,597 Caps et al. May 14, 1935 2,164,919 Harmon July 4, 1939 2,446,618 Stephano Aug. 10, 1948 2,451,833 Koch Oct. 19, 1948 2,547,828 Maussnest Apr. 3, 1951 2,604,825 Sieg July 29, 1952 

